The Brian Beers Show: Episode 291
Title: Why Your Best Employees Quit (and How to Stop It)
Host: Brian Beers
Original Air Date: October 13, 2025
Episode Overview
Brian Beers dives into the real reasons why top employees leave small businesses, especially in the franchising world, and explains practical strategies to keep them engaged and loyal. He leverages his experience running an eight-figure franchise portfolio to deliver concise, actionable advice—focusing on expectation setting, hiring best practices, team culture, and building growth pathways.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. The Manager Turnover Problem [00:00]
- Brian opens by describing a common challenge: hiring a manager, only for them to quit within weeks, throwing the owner back into daily operations.
- “You finally hire a manager so that you can step back a little bit and six weeks later they quit. Now you're back in the store... and you're wondering, am I ever going to get free?” [00:00]
2. Proper Role Documentation and Expectation Setting [01:00]
- Many business owners lack clarity on what they actually want from a role.
- Brian suggests writing out every task and expectation, then using ChatGPT as a "sanity check."
- “I go to ChatGPT... and I want you to tell me like, is this within reason or am I being ridiculous here? And it's come back and be like, dude, like you were looking for a unicorn. Stop that.” [02:00]
- Brian suggests writing out every task and expectation, then using ChatGPT as a "sanity check."
- Clear documentation helps with onboarding and reduces new hire failure due to ambiguous expectations.
- “A lot of times people fail in a role because we don't set proper expectations, we're not clear on what we want, then we don't set proper expectations, and then our training's just like we throw them into the fire...” [03:15]
3. Hiring for Core Values Over Experience [04:00]
- For non-technical roles, Brian prioritizes who the person is over their resume bullets.
- “Honestly, I care minimally about their experience for anything that's a non technical role...” [04:25]
- He advocates using tools like Predictive Index to assess personality fit for specific job demands (e.g., outbound sales vs. inbound sales).
- “For example, if we were looking to hire a new outbound salesperson... that is a very specific role that takes a very specific personality to go out and do that.” [06:10]
4. Personality Fit vs. Past Experience [07:00]
- Sometimes, candidates with zero relevant experience but the right traits are best.
- “We will have people who score five out of five on the personality test... But their personality is the perfect fit for that. So that tells me... there's a high likelihood that this person's going to excel.” [07:39]
- Experience doesn’t always mean capability or fit.
- “There’s other people who have literally years of experience... but they score like a one star in what we need them to do.” [08:15]
5. The Core Values 'Triangle' Analogy [09:00]
- Brian visualizes people as a triangle—most weight should be on the base (core values), not the tip (resume).
- “What matters is what's below. It's the core values, it's the base, it's who they are.” [09:50]
- “When you go to fire that person or... promote that, it's not going to be on what school they went to 10 years ago. It's not going to be on their GPA... None of that is going to matter in the trenches. What's going to matter is who they are as a person.” [10:20]
6. Analysis Paralysis and Speed to Hire [12:00]
- Waiting too long to make a hire is worse than hiring the wrong person and correcting quickly.
- “I see so many people... spend six months going through resumes... whoever, whatever resumes you're looking at from six months ago, I guarantee the best people have new jobs right now.” [12:20]
- “What is worse is that you sit there and you do nothing. You sit idling...” [13:05]
7. Building a ‘Bench’ and Promoting From Within [14:00]
- Cites the Philadelphia Eagles and Tom Brady as examples of investing in depth and backups.
- “It doesn't happen by itself like it happens because they're very intentional in knowing you have to have a strong lineup. Tom Brady is famous for taking less money... so the team could... build me not only the best possible offensive line... but also the best backups that you can.” [15:50]
- Applies this to franchising: Always cultivate and develop your next leaders internally.
- “We are always looking to promote from within... mechanic to assistant manager to manager, to a DM to a managing partner...” [17:30]
8. Growth Path as Retention Lever [18:00]
- Employees don’t quit jobs—they quit bosses and dead-end prospects.
- “People don't like quit jobs, they quit their bosses... They look at their boss and say I don't want your job. Like I don't want to be stuck doing this for so many years.” [18:35]
- Sell a vision of growth and opportunity, even in small or new businesses.
- “What is your company going to look like in three years? Are you going to be bigger than you are today? I hope so.” [19:22]
- “If you can make me money, you are a great team player. I'm happy to be you if you are that type of person.” [21:15]
9. Checklist for Reducing Turnover [22:00]
- Set the right expectations, hire for core values, speed up hiring, keep a bench, and articulate a growth vision.
- “If you can line up all those things, I guarantee you're going to have less turnover, you're going to hire higher quality people, you're going to keep them longer and you're going to make more money...” [22:50]
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
- “I go to ChatGPT... is this within reason or am I being ridiculous here?... dude, like you were looking for a unicorn. Stop that.” [02:00]
- “What matters is what's below. It's the core values, it's the base, it's who they are.” [09:50]
- “What is worse is that you sit there and you do nothing. You sit idling...” [13:05]
- “People don't like quit jobs, they quit their bosses... They look at their boss and say I don't want your job.” [18:35]
- “If you can line up all those things... you're going to make more money, they're going to be more happy and everyone's going to thrive.” [22:50]
Timeline of Key Segments
| Timestamp | Segment/Topic | |------------|------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:00 | Opening: Manager turnover, real problem setup | | 01:00 | Importance of documenting expectations/role clarity | | 04:00 | Hiring for personality and values, not just experience | | 06:10 | Predictive Index & job/personality fit in sales | | 09:00 | Triangle analogy: Core values as foundation | | 12:00 | Overcoming hiring paralysis—speed matters | | 14:00 | Building your bench: Sports/business comparison | | 18:00 | The power of a growth path for employee retention | | 22:00 | Checklist for fixing turnover and boosting engagement |
Tone and Final Thoughts
Brian’s tone throughout is direct, practical, and encouraging, layered with entrepreneurial realism. He emphasizes that preventing employee turnover isn’t a complex secret—it's a matter of clear systems, honest hiring, investment in culture and structure, and authentic communication of opportunity.
Action Steps for Listeners:
- Get crystal clear on expectations for every role.
- Hire for core values and fit—don’t get lost in resumes.
- Move quickly; don’t overthink hiring.
- Always be developing your next leaders.
- Articulate and sell your growth vision—early, often, and honestly.
“If you can line up all those things, I guarantee you're going to have less turnover, you're going to hire higher quality people, you're going to keep them longer and you're going to make more money, they're going to be more happy and everyone's going to thrive.” [22:50]